The winner of the Palme d'Or, the highest award at the 71st Cannes International Film Festival, the most sought-after film of the nearly 500 films screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the most watched film in China in August, are all honors titled "Thief Family". Behind the honor is the hard work of countless workers, and this interview is Kodak's first interview with the cinematographer who is hirokazu Kore-eda: Kondo Ryuto. Here's what's in the interview.
Movie "Thief Family" photography Kondo Ryuto Interview Transcript
Some of the pictures can be successfully completed without luck and the super skill of the staff
Kodak: Is this the first time you've worked with Director Shiki?
Kondo: The feeling I got this time is that I finally have the opportunity to work with Director Ishi. The schedule is also just right, which is really good. In fact, when filming TV commercials and music mv a few years ago, director Zhi asked me about the schedule, but unfortunately, the time is always wrong, and there has been no opportunity to work together. This shoot started in the summer, and because I had discussed it with the director in advance, I adjusted the time and was finally able to work together.
Kodak: In director Shiki's work, there have been many works shot on 35mm film before, so what is the reason for choosing film shooting this time?
Kondo: Director Eda himself strongly wants to shoot on 35mm film, but that's the real reason. In the actual shooting process, even if our budget is limited, the director also requires that we must shoot on film, which is precisely because the director has been making movies to cultivate the feeling, such as changing film on the spot, etc. The shooting process that can only be experienced by shooting with film is in line with the director's habits. Personally, I also think that the texture shot on film is very much in line with this movie.
Kodak: When I first participated in the work of Director Shigide, was there anything impressive about the shooting scene?
Kondo: Most of the staff present knew very well the way director Eda made the film, and I was very surprised that they strictly followed that technique, and the skills were very high. For example, there is a scene that was shot in the studio on a rainy day, but when shooting according to the normal photography process, the weather forecast said that it was going to snow heavily in Tokyo. Because of such a very fortuitous chance, we filmed the snow scene, which can leave a deeper impression on the audience. Therefore, in the photography scene, it is these staff who can calmly respond even in the event of unexpected situations, are good at arranging time, and skillfully use the lucky "snow" to shoot works, and it is they who support the entire branch crew with superb skills. Moreover, in order to make the performance of the work more abundant, the director of the branch has to edit the video tapes and finished films every day, and then start to prepare for the next day's shooting. On set, the director adjusts the temporary added scene and edits the new scene based on this. Therefore, in the process of shooting, it is not just the plot written on the script to be filmed, but every day to improve the accuracy of the work little by little, so that it becomes more abundant. I think that the photographic scenes shot in this way are very rare, and they are really the envy of outsiders. In this movie, there are a total of six characters in addition to the child, so there will be a scene of shooting multiple people at one time. That's when I asked the director, do we want to use two cameras? But the director said that his films always use only one camera, and I was surprised by that.
3The many benefits of perforated film photography
Kodak: How did you feel when you saw the finished photography?
Kondo: After seeing the finished product, I think it will be good to shoot the film, and the director is also very satisfied with this. After shooting, I felt very enjoyable. We considered the possible situations of photography on film and chose to shoot only with vision3 500t 5219 3-perforated film. When film is used in Japan to shoot movies, there are great benefits to using 3-perforated film. Film printing We chose imagica west, and finally imagica. The entire film was shot from the summer seaside scene, when the script was not yet completed and the overall tone direction had not yet been finalized. Looking at the director's past works, most of the images feel very refreshing. So this time should follow the previous style is better, or because the content of this time involves poverty, crime, with a little chaotic feeling, so it is better to exaggerate the saturation tone, which has bothered me for a long time. However, the director told me that he wanted to organize the color "blue" into the film, such as the color of the eaves of the house where the family lived. When the director selects the scene, he gradually expands some of the main points he notices and the formed film worldview to determine the tone of the work. The scene of six people looking at the fireworks under the eaves is the first time in the film that six people get together to shoot, which is the director's idea of fish peeking into the world from the bottom of the sea, capturing and overlooking this important scene. And our impression of the seabed is also generally blue, so the whole picture is given a blue hue.
Kondo: The negative scan was done with Imagica West's Cine Vivo. Although there are two options, Cine Vivo and Scanity, when looking at the image, Cine Vivo's imaging is softer, feeling more in line with the texture of this work. In fact, because it was difficult to shoot on film, I wanted to eventually use film to print, but considering the overall budget, it was still difficult to achieve.
Use film to present the primary colors in people's memories
Kondo: There was a director who once said that the color of film is "memory color", and film can show the original color that people remember, and I also agree with this very much. I think that some colors are colors that only film can present, and the texture of film can construct the feeling that belongs to the world. I feel very honored to participate in the production of a film that won the Palme d'Or, the highest honor of the Cannes Film Festival, and I will continue to work hard in order not to embarrass this work. And, because it won the award, it was possible to have more audiences to watch the work, and if the film could convey some information to the audience, it would be great.
(Interview dated May 2018)
Kondo Ryujin
Born in 1976 in his hometown of Aichi Prefecture. While studying photography at Osaka University of the Arts, Kondo participated in Kazuka Yuchi's graduation film The Great Gathering of Ghosts and Animals (1997). Since then, he has also participated in many works directed by Xiongche, such as "Narrative Scenery of Haitan City" (2010, the winner of the 65th Daily Film Competition Photography Award), "My Man" (2014), "Wuqu Mukoku" (2017) and so on. He also worked as a photographer in the early days of director Atsuhiro Yamashita from the beginning to "Natural Substructure" (2007), "The Former Me" (2011), and "Crossing the Fence" (2016). Other film credits include "Music and Road" (2010), "Tokikaino Rose" (2010, the 54th Japan Film Directors Association Newcomer Award winner), "Hearing that Kirishima is retiring" (2012, the 34th Yokohama Film Festival Photography Award winner), "Yokomichi Seinosuke" (2013), "Only Shine There" (2014), "Beautiful Star" (2016), etc.
Photography group information
Family of Thieves
Director: Kore-eda
Director of Photography: Ryuto Kondo (j.s.c)
Camera: Taku Kobayashi
Second photographer: Yamato Tai
Third photographer: Wada Komika
Fourth photographer: Kona Yuzaki
Teruaki: Isamu Fujii
equipment:
Arri arriflex 535b, alexa mini (partial)
Arri arricam st
lens:
・夏季篇・arri ultra prime 20, 28, 40, 65, 85, 100, 180mm、arri/fujion alura 30-80mm、canon k-35 25-120mm
Leica summicron-c 18, 21, 29, 40, 75, 135mm, angénieux optimo 24-290mm
Film: Kodak Vision3 500t 5219
Printed by: imagica west
Photographic equipment: Sanwa Yingcai Society
Later: imagica
Production:aoi pro.
Issued: gaga
Production: Thief Family Production Committee